0:00:00.000,0:00:01.498
Even if you don't understand,

0:00:01.570,0:00:03.892
You can always support and stand with us.

0:00:03.902,0:00:05.412
Our identity is still real

0:00:05.412,0:00:06.198
and exists.

0:00:09.144,0:00:11.364
My name is Cami, I am 22 years old,[br]I am non-binary

0:00:11.396,0:00:13.226
and I am here to talk about it.

0:00:13.289,0:00:14.929
Non-binary is an umbrella term

0:00:14.929,0:00:17.239
which emcompasses all gender identities

0:00:17.239,0:00:19.540
who are neither exclusively masculine

0:00:19.540,0:00:20.520
nor feminine.

0:00:20.520,0:00:23.450
It can be agender, 'a' being an absence

0:00:23.450,0:00:24.900
of gender, which means neutral

0:00:24.900,0:00:27.355
or it can be genderfluid,

0:00:27.355,0:00:31.285
like if we imagined gender [br]being on a spectrum with two polarities,

0:00:31.285,0:00:32.594
masculine and feminine.

0:00:32.594,0:00:34.264
We can have a slider that moves for

0:00:34.264,0:00:36.194
everyone that is genderfluid,

0:00:36.194,0:00:38.935
demigender, pangender, etc.

0:00:38.935,0:00:42.750
I never really identified as feminine.

0:00:42.750,0:00:45.850
At 18 years old, I already started

0:00:45.850,0:00:47.725
questioning my gender identity

0:00:47.725,0:00:49.505
and I met a trans man,

0:00:49.505,0:00:51.589
whom I was with for some time,

0:00:51.589,0:00:54.749
and we were able to come up[br]with a group of words on my identity,

0:00:54.749,0:00:56.173
which was non-binary.

0:00:56.173,0:00:57.885
I think that it was because of him

0:00:57.885,0:00:59.423
being more informed than me,

0:00:59.423,0:01:01.633
that he knew how to help find the words

0:01:01.633,0:01:03.358
surrounding my identity.

0:01:03.358,0:01:05.128
Gender identity is what defines us.

0:01:05.128,0:01:06.719
It is the gender we feel,

0:01:06.719,0:01:09.670
the way we live,[br]the way we experiment.

0:01:09.670,0:01:10.433
Gender expression

0:01:10.433,0:01:13.160
is what we show to others.

0:01:13.160,0:01:15.820
It's the way we will express our identity.

0:01:15.820,0:01:17.758
We can have a gender identity,

0:01:17.758,0:01:19.439
for example, masculine:

0:01:19.439,0:01:21.120
we are a man,

0:01:21.120,0:01:22.762
and we will have a gender expression

0:01:22.762,0:01:24.652
like feminine, with many indicators

0:01:24.652,0:01:26.187
that society would consider as feminine.

0:01:26.187,0:01:28.385
For example, Bilal Hassani,[br]who is a man

0:01:28.385,0:01:30.355
with a gender expression as feminine.

0:01:30.835,0:01:34.835
I told my parents I was non-binary

0:01:34.835,0:01:36.555
and I wanted to change my first name

0:01:36.555,0:01:37.365
at the same time.

0:01:37.528,0:01:40.678
I was 20 years old, it has been 2 years.

0:01:40.678,0:01:43.118
My mother took it very well.

0:01:43.118,0:01:46.878
She was already knowledgeable[br]on questions of gender.

0:01:46.878,0:01:49.309
She had already broken it down [br]and was safe.

0:01:49.309,0:01:50.456
I felt like I was safe.

0:01:50.456,0:01:53.150
My father was a little more delicate.

0:01:53.150,0:01:55.250
I had to take more time talking about it[br]with him

0:01:55.250,0:01:56.775
and I did not end up doing it

0:01:56.775,0:01:57.735
for real.

0:01:57.735,0:01:58.993
I sent him a message,

0:01:58.993,0:02:00.805
because it was easier for me[br]to manage.

0:02:01.250,0:02:03.204
He reacted kind of well.

0:02:03.204,0:02:04.702
He said he didn't understand it all,

0:02:04.702,0:02:06.800
but in all scenarios,[br]he would be there to support me

0:02:06.800,0:02:08.750
and that it changes nothing for him,

0:02:08.750,0:02:09.414
that he loves me the same.

0:02:09.414,0:02:11.770
For my grandmother, it was[br]a little less obvious,

0:02:11.770,0:02:14.151
because it was a strange thing for her.

0:02:14.151,0:02:17.710
She grew up on the countryside.[br]Then she moved to Paris.

0:02:17.710,0:02:19.792
She lived with my grandfather for 50 years.

0:02:19.792,0:02:22.383
She existed in a place that[br]was very cis heteronormative

0:02:22.383,0:02:24.662
where she never had to question her identity

0:02:24.662,0:02:25.741
or the identity of others.

0:02:26.340,0:02:28.622
When I talked to her about it,[br]she was dumbfounded,

0:02:28.622,0:02:32.402
but she always stayed by me[br]and kept

0:02:32.402,0:02:33.724
her composure

0:02:33.724,0:02:35.304
in the best way she could with me.

0:02:35.304,0:02:36.354
She made huge efforts,

0:02:36.354,0:02:37.414
almost never making mistakes

0:02:37.414,0:02:38.974
in the use of my preferred name.

0:02:38.974,0:02:41.524
I filed a request for a first name change

0:02:41.524,0:02:42.604
in 2019.

0:02:43.560,0:02:45.550
I made the request

0:02:45.550,0:02:47.810
next to city hall in the place I lived.

0:02:48.561,0:02:50.412
I pulled out a file that I filled

0:02:50.412,0:02:52.792
with the witness of my loved ones

0:02:52.792,0:02:54.593
to say I was using the preferred name,

0:02:54.593,0:02:55.213
Cami,

0:02:55.213,0:02:56.243
to address myself.

0:02:56.740,0:02:59.680
I asked my school to draw up[br]a support letter.

0:03:00.770,0:03:02.100
After, I dropped off my file.

0:03:02.100,0:03:03.692
I waited a few months.

0:03:03.836,0:03:05.272
It depends on the city hall,

0:03:05.272,0:03:07.829
but I got my approval to change[br]my first name.

0:03:07.829,0:03:08.994
The fact of misgendering someone,

0:03:08.994,0:03:11.143
it's to address someone

0:03:11.143,0:03:12.850
using the wrong pronouns,

0:03:12.850,0:03:15.292
so to identify someone as[br]non-binary

0:03:15.292,0:03:17.611
who has already explicitly said

0:03:17.611,0:03:20.384
to use neutral pronouns like,[br]they/them,

0:03:20.384,0:03:23.612
and to instead use feminine or masculine.

0:03:23.612,0:03:25.514
Me, I personally use the pronouns that are

0:03:25.514,0:03:28.991
said to be feminine orally,[br]but written neutrally.

0:03:28.991,0:03:31.158
But it is true in general,

0:03:31.158,0:03:32.568
I typically say right away,

0:03:32.568,0:03:34.622
that I preferrred to be addressed as

0:03:34.622,0:03:36.458
feminine orally.

0:03:36.759,0:03:38.699
After, if the person doesn't do the same

0:03:38.699,0:03:42.699
and you want to identify someone right,

0:03:42.699,0:03:44.859
you can ask them their pronouns

0:03:44.859,0:03:47.435
or wait for them to identify themselves

0:03:47.435,0:03:48.565
to follow their usage.

0:03:48.565,0:03:51.185
In the videos I made previously,

0:03:51.185,0:03:53.150
there were a lot of comments

0:03:53.150,0:03:55.735
that invalidates our identity,

0:03:55.735,0:04:00.355
that deny our gender expressions[br]and identities.

0:04:00.737,0:04:03.952
After, I'm taken aback on these comments,

0:04:03.952,0:04:05.412
because I know for the most part,

0:04:05.412,0:04:08.992
they are malevolent or very insensitive,

0:04:08.992,0:04:10.337
and they just want to hurt me.

0:04:10.337,0:04:14.348
I already took part in a report [br]in which we heard

0:04:14.348,0:04:15.660
that it was a fad,

0:04:15.660,0:04:17.720
that it only appeared[br]in the past few years

0:04:17.720,0:04:19.500
in the U.S., it's been 10 years,

0:04:19.509,0:04:21.616
that it was very related to fashion,

0:04:21.616,0:04:24.422
unisex fashion, etc.

0:04:24.422,0:04:26.616
That is completely false.[br]I also believe that

0:04:26.621,0:04:32.766
it is a super white and euro-centric[br]point of view,

0:04:32.766,0:04:35.480
because in many cultures,

0:04:35.480,0:04:36.958
we find many gender identities

0:04:36.958,0:04:39.128
that were completely erased

0:04:39.128,0:04:41.149
during colonisation basically.

0:04:41.149,0:04:44.212
Often, we hear that it is problematic,

0:04:44.212,0:04:47.816
it's awkward to recreate cases[br]and more cases on

0:04:47.816,0:04:49.940
identifying oneself or to reidentify, etc.

0:04:49.940,0:04:51.730
But I think it's also super important

0:04:51.730,0:04:55.140
to be able to identify[br]in the first place

0:04:55.140,0:04:57.200
to get rid of an identity

0:04:57.200,0:04:59.340
that was arbitrarily assigned to us.

0:04:59.340,0:05:00.754
I think it is necessary

0:05:00.754,0:05:02.294
to find ourselves a community

0:05:02.294,0:05:04.297
to create relationships,[br]to know we are not alone,

0:05:04.297,0:05:05.217
that there is support,

0:05:05.217,0:05:07.927
that there are other people like us,

0:05:07.927,0:05:09.354
that understand and hear us.

0:05:09.354,0:05:11.323
If I had one point to make,

0:05:11.323,0:05:13.864
it would be that[br]even if you don't understand,

0:05:13.864,0:05:16.394
you can always support and stand with us.

0:05:16.394,0:05:18.604
You can learn and [br]deconstruct

0:05:18.604,0:05:19.934
old ideologies.

0:05:19.934,0:05:23.134
You can inform yourself and[br]help your loved ones,

0:05:23.134,0:05:24.664
even if you don't understand it,

0:05:24.664,0:05:28.454
what matters is their gender identity.

0:05:28.454,0:05:30.924
Another point, is that[br]all non-binary people

0:05:30.924,0:05:34.924
have a different way of [br]expressing their identity,

0:05:34.924,0:05:36.599
where some would

0:05:36.599,0:05:39.149
undergo medical procedures,[br]take hormones,

0:05:39.149,0:05:40.669
have a surgery,[br]others not,

0:05:40.669,0:05:43.790
and that despite the way

0:05:43.990,0:05:45.232
that we transition or not,

0:05:45.232,0:05:46.822
socially, medically, etc.

0:05:47.177,0:05:49.757
our identity is still real, it exists,

0:05:51.000,0:05:52.910
and we are very numerous.